America is a great nation, there is no doubt about that, they are kind, generous, hard-working people who strive to maintain a good and decent life. A country formed on certain principles, values, and morals.  The thing that bothers someone like me, who admires America, is the double standards that this country sets when it comes to their youth. The distinction presented between maturity and immaturity is really an issue they need to work on.

For instance, in this country the official age of maturity is said to be eighteen years of age. At this age, one is considered to be an adult, with knowledge and responsibilities that apply to adults. It is the magic age when one is believed to be fully developed and mature. This is the age where people are considered competent and reliable enough to manage their own affairs.  It is the legal age where one is allowed to vote, to sign up in the military, and go off to war to defend their country.

Except now comes the biggest shock, however, at this age they are not reliable, responsible or mature enough to visit the neighboring bar and have a beer. No, that magic age is twenty-one in this country.

What is being questioned is not the age; though it’s difficult to know how they came up with eighteen as the mature age of adulthood, but regardless of the age chosen, would it not be right to assume that once an adult is considered an adult that all rules apply? How can they possibly, and with good conscience say that an eighteen-year-old is old enough to pick up a gun, fill it with bullets, and go off to war and defend their country, and at the same time, contend they are not old enough to have an alcoholic drink? Is this not the most ludicrous, double standard practiced? One could fail to see the cause, or justification, of this ideology.

One can only imagine what these young people must be thinking when, on one hand, the American people praise and honor them, for being brave, responsible, mature individuals, and on the other, send the message across that they are not really brave, responsible, or mature enough because they wouldn’t know how to handle a drink.

As this writer understands it, this rule was applied when the military found out they needed more bodies, more bayonets in the field, even though you had to be twenty-one years to exercise all your rights.

However, then they went and lowered the age to eighteen for some rights, such as voting, but not others, such as the drinking age which stayed the same. Where is the logic in such action?

In stressing and teaching young people to become responsible and self-reliant; is this the proper message to send them? It is no wonder young people are confused, it violates their integrity and it is hypocritical.

If the society contends that eighteen is the mature age of adulthood, then this means that eighteen-year-old individuals are responsible and mature in all areas defined as mature. That same eighteen-year-old who is going off to war in Afghanistan (or any other war) will no doubt be as responsible and mature when handling a drink.

Come on America, maturity is maturity, pick an age, and apply it to all areas. You are sending out the wrong message to your youth by applying one standard for drinking and another pertaining to voting or fighting an enemy. It would seem to me that America, this great, beautiful, and powerful nation would know better than to promote such a double standard principle, and engage in its practice.

From someone who loves America and all it stands for, this is a double standard that needs addressing, and could be easily changed to correspond with all their other noble and splendid rationales.